"Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men," the president said in the East Room at close to midnight Eastern time.

The Chief Executive – who briefed former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton before he spoke to the public – termed bin Laden's death "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al Qaeda."